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World Food Day 2024: Food is integral not only to life, but community and to honour its role in society around the world, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , has designated October 16th every year as World Food Day. The FAO, which is a wing of the United Nations was founded on this date in 1945 and the yearly celebration commemorates its work and commitment to tackling issues like food security, nutrition and ending global hunger. Each year, the day is assigned a unique theme which reflects the most challenging issues of the year and for 2024 the theme is “Right to Food for a Better Life and a Better Future.”
World Food Day Theme 2024
The World Food Day theme for 2024 has been set as a "Right to Food for a Better Life and a Better Future" underscoring the need for accessible, affordable nutrition for all as a basic right, not a privilege. Under this banner, they are highlighting the issues prevalent throughout the food chain from farming to commerce and how it needs to be tailored to provide better nutrition for all.
According to FAO studies, over 2.8 billion people are currently unable to afford healthy, nutritious food on a regular basis. This has resulted in both severe malnutrition, health problems and rampant obesity across socio-economic classes. This problem isn’t limited to certain countries but across the globe and vulnerable sections of society are more prone to unhealthy diets, relying on cheap processed foods which may not meet basic nutritional needs.
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A large part of this issue lies in the rising prices of healthy foods, making it so that only the wealthier segments of society can afford to buy clean, organic produce. Aside from a lack of access to fresh foods, there’s also a lack of education and information around the need for nutrition and how to create a healthy diet. Together this leads to more and more people opting for convenience over health.
The Effect Of Conflict And Crisis On Food Systems
Another rising concern that has shaped this year’s theme is the growing number of natural disasters and ongoing political conflicts that are occurring worldwide. Unstable situations disrupt the agrifood systems and degrade environmental conditions which in turn lead to biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions that have prolonged effects on the world’s agriculture. The FAO suggests that addressing these problems at their root will help nations prepare and weather adverse conditions in a more sustainable way.
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The History Of World Food Day
The first World Food Day was conceived in 1979 at the FAO’s 20th General Conference and enacted on October 16th, 1981. The core of the day was agreed upon by 150 participating countries with a goal to raise awareness about hunger, malnutrition and sustainable food practices that would result in a stable food economy for all.
The Importance Of World Food Day
While World Food Day Offers an opportunity to highlight specific issues that are currently challenging the global food systems and open up conversations on how they can be tackled, the heart of the movement is a year-long awareness. It urges everyone to get more involved in the process behind buying food, and become more conscientious of local agriculture to in the long run change the way we eat to a system that benefits individuals and the health of our global environment.